Soul Food for Potential Soul Mate at Tom Jenkins' Bar-B-Q

When it comes to both dating and dining, I generally try to keep an open mind. But there are some tenets I stick to like paper on a slightly melted Blow Pop.

With regards to dating, I stay away from guys still married, separated, or recently divorced, and if a man makes a dry-heaving sound when raw food of any sort arrives at the table, I kick him to the curb.

Dining is just as intimate a matter, and most of the lessons I've learned in this department came from my daddy. The first thing he taught me was that just because you can't pronounce it doesn't mean it's not good eatin'. Also, never order a hamburger in a Chinese restaurant. And last, don't try ribs, collard greens, or sweet potato pie from any barbecue place that employs only white chefs.

Now I know I can get respectable ribs at any number of joints in Wellington and Boca -- Park Avenue and Mississippi Sweets come to mind -- but I need to eat where the brothers are. Only they can tap into their roots and bring forth true soul food.

Sensing my little 24-year-old cougar cub would enjoy some baby backs and sweet tea, I suggested Tom Jenkins' Bar-B-Q, my go-to. He protested at first, claiming he was overdressed and his whitey local barbecue chain in Boca, Smokey Bones, was top-notch. But I pulled out the claws and gave him a bad-kitty look until he relented.

Once inside my mecca, I could see he was still reluctant. I'm sure he was wondering why he put on a snappy 7 Diamonds

Riki Altman eats everything that won't try and eat her first (with exceptions, of course) and dates younger men, older men, and older men who act like young men, along with locals, tourists, illegal aliens and just plain aliens. Love Bites is a compilation of what happens when her dining and dating ordeals collide. Sometimes, it just ain't pretty.